A Buffett-Like Small-Company Fund on Our Radar

Greg Carlson: A mutual fund on our radar right now is Tributary Small Company. This fund has been around for a long time; however, it's been fairly small for most of its life. It's been run by lead manager Mark Wynegar since 1999. He is joined by comanager Michael Johnson, who has been on the fund for about a decade, and five analysts back the two of them up.

The fund essentially takes a Warren Buffett-like approach to small companies. So, the team is valuation-sensitive. However, they are generally looking for good businesses at a fair price. Thus, the fund ends up in Morningstar's small-blend category rather than small-value.

The team aims for above-average returns with below-average risk over the long haul and they have delivered that. The fund's institutional share class is its primary class; however, it has just $1,000 minimum. So, it is widely available.

The team runs about $1.1 billion in the strategy now, and it plans to close the fund at about $1.5 billion in assets. With think it's a promising holding.